


A Summer in Letters

by LindeHobbit



Series: Writing Our Hearts [2]
Category: Call Me By Your Name (2017), Call Me by Your Name - André Aciman
Genre: Feelings, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 23:46:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14779562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LindeHobbit/pseuds/LindeHobbit
Summary: Elio and Oliver reminisce and reconnect over a summer correspondence. Set in 1984, one year after their summer together in Italy.Though this story could stand alone, it is set immediately after the first story in this series, "The Three-Month-Old Letter," so you would probably enjoy it more if you read that story first. "A Summer in Letters" is set mostly in the CMBYN movieverse, with bits of the bookverse thrown in here and there. Your comments mean so much and help me become a better writer!Please do not re-post my work without my permission. Thank you.





	A Summer in Letters

Wednesday, May 16, 1984

Dear Oliver,

Just a quick note to let you know that my financial aid package came through with Juilliard, so I’ll be going there in the fall. I’m so excited! The piano teacher I’ll be studying with is someone whose artistry I really admire; he’s a specialist in both late Romantic and early 20th century repertoire, a time of truly excellent music for the piano. I’m totally psyched!

I’m also really, really happy that we’re going to be in the same city again. I miss you every day. It continues to amaze me how the six weeks you spent with us changed everything.

I hope your term wrapped up well, and that you’re enjoying the summer so far. Are you teaching any classes this summer? Any chance you could come to Crema for a visit? You’re welcome! And yes, my parents said to tell you that also. Even with this summer’s student (her name is Julie, and she’s from Austin, TX), we could always make room for you. You could sleep in my room (only if you want to, of course).

Write back soon! Miss you, _Americano!_ Really wish you were here.

Love,  
Elio

P.S. I graduate from high school in a little over two weeks (Friday, June 1). I’m ready to be done!

 

Saturday, June 2, 1984

Dear Elio,

I just received your letter yesterday, perhaps as you were in the midst of your ceremony. Happy graduation! I wish I could have been there to see you receive your diploma, and to celebrate this important achievement with your family and friends. Congratulations!

I’ve enclosed a small gift with this package…hope it doesn’t slow down its arrival too much. I saw Murray Perahia play a recital here in New York earlier this week, and this cassette was for sale afterwards; it just came out in May! Different repertoire than what he played when I saw him since that was a solo piano recital, but I thought you’d want to hear the Mozart concerti, and I didn’t know if you’d be able to get this in Italy yet. I wish you’d been with me; I would have loved to hear your impressions of Perahia’s playing. I thought he was brilliant, but I don’t have your amazing ears and mind for music. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the tape. I’m picturing you listening to it on your Walkman and transcribing the music, sitting outside at your little table. I don’t know how you do that. You astound me, Elio.

In any event, the gift is just a small token. We will celebrate your graduation properly when you get to New York, I promise! There’s so much I want to show you, and do with you, in this crazy, incredible city.

As much as I love New York, though, I miss Italy terribly. As the one-year anniversary of the date that I left for Chez Perlman approaches, I wish I could turn back the clock and do it all again. I wouldn’t change anything…well, almost anything. I’d like to kiss you a thousand more times. And I’m not sure I could bear to leave you again. It’s a very good thing that you’re coming here in the fall.

I really wish I could come visit in Crema this summer. I would love to so, so much. And OF COURSE I’d want to sleep in your room, you goose! But finances are tight right now, and I just can’t manage a plane ticket. I promise you that one day, we will both be there again for a summer.

Please let me know when you’re arriving in New York. I’m so excited, Elio! If you need help moving in or getting settled, I’ll make myself available…you just need to ask.

To answer your question: yes, I am teaching this summer. Columbia does two 6-week summer intensives, and I’m teaching for the first one. It has started; in fact, we’re already two weeks in! You barely have time to catch your breath from the spring semester, and Summer 1 begins…it’s a whirlwind. I’m teaching two courses: a survey class that I could teach in my sleep, “Introduction to Philosophy in Ancient Greece,” and a small graduate-level class, “Gender and Sexuality in the Art of Ancient Greece.” The second is a new course that I just planned out this past winter, so it’s my first time teaching it…so far, so good. I have an engaged group of students, and the discussions have been very interesting. You would enjoy the class, I think. I consulted with your wonderful dad on my syllabus and reading list, and he was so helpful, as always. Perhaps he told you.

I’d better stop for now and get this to the post office before they close; they have shorter hours on Saturdays.

 _Oliver Oliver Oliver._ Wish I could hold you. I think of you each and every day.

Love,  
Oliver

P.S. When do you leave for Crema?

 

Thursday, June 7, 1984

Dear Pro,

I wanted to let you know that my plane ticket arrived. I truly cannot thank you and Annella enough for your generosity. I continue to be moved (or perhaps more accurately, amazed) by your kindness and understanding, and I’m counting the days until I’m with you all again!

We should probably talk on the phone to solidify details at some point. I’m reliably in my office at Columbia on Mondays and Wednesdays between 2:00 and 4:00 pm EDT; that phone number is (212) 854-3907, just in case I haven’t given it to you before. You can also catch me at home most mornings between 7:30 and 9:00 am EDT. Probably easiest (and safest!) to let you call me when Elio is not within earshot. I will be moving in early July (just a few blocks from where I live now), but I’ll be able to keep the same home phone number.

I’m having fun with our little deception. I am so excited to see the look on Elio’s face when I get out of the car in Italy!

Thank you again, so much. I can’t wait to see you all.

With great affection and gratitude,  
Oliver

 

Tuesday, June 19, 1984

Dear Oliver,

Thanks so much for your long letter! I loved reading every word. And thank you, also, for the graduation gift. I LOVE the recording; Murray Perahia is an expert interpreter of Mozart! I have some of his other recordings and have studied them, but it’s so exciting to have a new one to listen to and transcribe! Thank you thank you thank you!!! I, also, wish I could have come to the recital with you. If you still have the program, please save it for me; I’d love to see what Perahia played. I expect he performs in New York pretty regularly, so hopefully we’ll have a chance to see him together one day. I’m glad you enjoyed his concert! I saw him give a recital in Rome when I was 14, and I was riveted!

We leave for Crema in two days (Thursday morning, June 21) so definitely send your next letter there, please. It’s going to be good to be there and see everyone, but I think it will also feel really strange without you, though at least not hopeless like it felt last summer after you left. I was really a mess. My poor parents and Marzia had their hands full! I missed you so much, and it was hard for me to care about anything without you there. I’d never felt like that before.

I’m not even sure why I’m telling you all this. It’s truly not an attempt to make you feel bad, I assure you. I’d never want you to feel bad. I guess it’s just so you know how real all of it was for me, how much I cared about you, and still care about you. I’m so excited that I’ll be seeing you again in the fall!

I just got a letter from Marzia, and she asked me to tell you hello. She knows about us; she had suspected, and then my parents told her and Chiara when you and I were in Bergamo. I think my folks wanted to make sure I had some support when I got back. Marzia and Chiara were both really cool about it, and were very kind to me after you left. And Marzia and I have managed to stay good friends in spite of my bad behavior last summer, due entirely to the fact that she’s such a caring and forgiving person. I’m not sure I deserved her forgiveness, but I am grateful for it. Anyway, Marzia’s kind of bummed out about coming to Crema this year because she has a really serious boyfriend in Paris and doesn’t want to be away from him all summer. She’s hoping he can come visit. She’s going to Cambridge University in England in the fall; I’m really happy for her. She wants to study literature and improve her fluency in English, and I know she’ll do great. Part of the reason we’ve always been such good friends is because we can talk about things like literature and poetry, and even music sometimes. It’s nice to have someone to speak French with besides my mom, too. Anyway, I’m glad she’s coming to Crema. We can commiserate about missing our guys.

Well, I’d better stop and post this. My mom and I are going shopping for some new college clothes this afternoon…we’re trying to do a few things now so we don’t have to do it all when we get back to Milan in August! I pretty much hate clothes shopping, but it has to be done. Ugh.

Anyway, I hope your summer term is going well…it must be wrapping up soon, right? Are you sure you can’t come to Crema? Who am I going to ride bikes all over northern Italy with? And talk with until all hours of the night? And you’re ALMOST the only person who knows about my spot. I’ll think of kissing you every time I go there…may not get much reading done this year. You’re distracting, Oliver.

OK, now I’d really better stop. I’ll bring my new Murray Perahia tape to Crema with me so I can do exactly what you imagined.

_Elio, Elio, Elio._

I miss you!

Love,  
Elio

P.S. It's looking like we'll arrive in New York on August 17 or 18, but we haven't gotten our tickets yet. I'll let you know for sure!

 

Thursday, July 5, 1984

Dear Elio,

Thank you for your letter! I keep re-reading it; I even walked around with it in my shirt pocket for one whole day just to keep a little part of you close. I miss you so much.

I’m sure by now you’re settled in Crema, enjoying all the wonderful fruit (I dream about the apricot juice, even now!), swimming, biking around with Marzia, and of course, working on your transcriptions at your little table. I love the look on your face when you’re transcribing music; you’re intent and focused, and your eyes are so alive with the music you are hearing as you work. I can see all of it so clearly, all the parts of your life in Crema. I wish I could be there with you, and I will be again one day. But for now, the fall is coming quickly, and we will be able to see each other again. I cannot wait to hold you. My arms have ached for you since they let you go on that train platform in Clusone. That was one of the hardest days of my life, Elio.

The summer term wrapped up last week, and I submitted my grades just before the Fourth of July holiday. So I have a little breathing room now, and time to catch up on some things. I’m actually moving this weekend…just within the same neighborhood…but the new place is better for a number of reasons, including more reasonable rent. So please send your next letter to my new address:

200 W. 104th Street, Apt. 4D  
New York, NY 10025

I had a fun Fourth of July; my friends Jill and Miguel hosted a cookout at their place in Brooklyn, and the weather was great. We sat on lawn chairs on the roof, and we all ate too much and drank beer and relaxed. When it got dark, we could even see some fireworks from up there. It was nice…hadn’t had time with friends like that in a while since we’ve all been so busy with the end of the spring term, and jumping straight into the summer intensive. Jill and Miguel are both faculty at Columbia also, Jill in my department, and Miguel in biology. I think you’d like them a lot. I look forward to introducing you to them.

Not much else to report right now. Summer in New York is hot! I wish I was in “heaven” with you, working beside the pool and jumping in whenever I needed to cool off. I keep thinking about it. There are pools here, of course, but it’s not the same. Northern Italy and New York City might as well be on two different planets!

Well, dear goose, I should probably stop and mail this so I can get my new address to you faster. Just before I sat down to write you, I was taking down (to pack it) a sun-catcher that I bought at a craft fair last fall because it reminded me of your eyes. It is primarily green, with flecks of brown and gold scattered in the glass. I saw it and had to buy it. My new apartment is much more sunny than my current one, so I’ll look forward to seeing it there. But even more than that, Elio, I look forward to seeing your eyes (and all of you!) again, standing in front of me in the New York sunshine. Autumn in New York can be so lovely.

To the post office I go! I miss you. Soooooo much!

_Oliver, Oliver, Oliver!_

Love and kisses,  
Oliver

 

Friday, July 20, 1984

Dear Oliver,

I hope your move went smoothly, and that you like your new place. I guess I’ll be seeing it soon enough, which is a very exciting thought! I love thinking about you standing in the sunlight in your new apartment…I always picture you in sunlight. I can’t believe you bought a sun-catcher because it reminded you of my eyes! No one has ever said anything like that to me before. I know I said this in my spot last summer, but I’ll say it again: I love this, Oliver. Yes, us.

I’m glad you had a fun Fourth of July. It sounds great, especially the sitting on the roof part…so cool! I’d love to meet your friends. I wonder what you’ve told them about me?

Crema is the same as always…hot, lazy, beautiful, sometimes boring. I’m spending time at the piano each day, continuing work on the Haydn sonata I started learning earlier in the summer, and also polishing up some Ravel pieces (do you remember “Une Barque Sur L’océan” from last summer? that’s one of them) and a Brahms intermezzo. I find I can really only practice in the early morning or the evenings after sunset…it’s just too hot in the afternoons. I guess that’s true every year, and yet every year I try (and fail) to make myself practice after lunch. Then I end up just taking a nap. Wish you were here so we could nap together. I expect I’d do a lot less actual sleeping if you were here, though. _Elio, Elio, ElioElioElioElioElio._

I’ve been working on transcribing the Mozart concerti from the Murray Perahia tape. They are wonderful…sparkling and playful, just the way Mozart should be performed. So when you picture me sitting at my little table outside, know that I’m actually there, enjoying your gift. Thank you again!

This year’s student, Julie, is nice, and seems to be a good helper for my father. Her southern accent is pretty awesome…you could cut it with a knife! She’s very easy-going and pleasant, but she keeps to herself a lot more than you did. She seems very focused on getting her book done; she’s getting married in September, so I think she wants the manuscript off to the publisher before her wedding. Her fiancé is coming to visit during her last week here, and after leaving us, they’ll do a little traveling in Europe before going back to Texas.

Marzia and Chiara both say hello. Chiara had a good first year at UPMC (Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris); she is studying nursing, and seems to be enjoying it so far. This year, she has eyes for one of the sons from a new family this summer, the Martins. Like so many families around here, it seems, they are of mixed nationality, French and Italian just like Marzia’s and Chiara’s families. Anyway, their oldest son, Nicolò, seems to have snared her interest, and she his as well. So I haven’t seen much of her lately, except in the evenings when we all go out dancing together. Marzia is her usual lovely self. She’s very excited about Cambridge in the fall, and apparently her boyfriend is going to Oxford, so they should be able to visit each other pretty easily. Her English is so much better…she’s been practicing a lot to get ready for Cambridge…and so she wants us to speak English all the time, which is a little weird. Sometimes I just answer her in French anyway. She has asked about you several times, and I’ve told her that you send your greetings.

The apricot crop is incredible this year! They are huge, and so juicy and delicious. My mother says it’s the best crop she’s ever seen in all her years of coming here. I wish I could send you some apricots in NYC! We all remember how much you loved the apricot juice last year. And just the other day, my father was reminiscing about how you aced the “linguistic journey of the word apricot” test, his eyes twinkling. We all miss you, Oliver.

**Later, the same day….**

Oliver, I can’t believe you’re HERE. Rather than having to post this letter to you, I think I’ll slip it under your pillow (my pillow). You’re sleeping in my bed right now, recovering from your jet lag, and from our lovemaking. I’m so happy I could burst. You and my parents really outdid yourselves with sneakiness! I’m so grateful. We’re going to make every single day of your visit fantastic! And this time, when you leave, I know it will just be a few short weeks until I see you again.

I can’t even believe this is real yet. Just now, I literally had to stop writing for a moment to look over my shoulder and see that you’re really in my bed. You’re lying on your side, your back to me, your blonde hair falling over my pillow, your bare shoulder peeking out from under the sheet. You are so beautiful, Oliver. I’m running out of words.

I promised Marzia I’d ride into town with her this afternoon, so I’m going to do that while you rest. But I’ll be back for dinner. And this year I’m making you get up…no skipping dinner tonight! Anchise caught a truly beautiful fish earlier today, and Mafalda is working her magic on it for tonight’s meal. You don’t want to miss it.

LATER! Ha! See you very soon, Elio. ☺

Love,  
Your Elio

**Author's Note:**

> Oliver’s graduation gift to Elio is a cassette tape of pianist Murray Perahia playing Mozart’s Piano Concertos No. 15 and 16, K. 450 and 451, with the English Chamber Orchestra. The recording was released on May 22, 1984.
> 
> The piano piece by Maurice Ravel that Elio mentions, “Une Barque Sur L’océan," is the beautiful music used in the film in the sequences at the World War I memorial, and the subsequent bike ride to Elio’s spot. Elio also plays a little of the piece at home before he and Oliver head into town; it’s clear he is just starting to learn the piece at that time.


End file.
